Five varieties have documented use in Herbal Medicine: Pyrola asarifolia - Bog Wintergreen, Pyrola elliptica - Waxflower Shinleaf, Pyrola chlorantha - Green-Flowered Wintergreen, Pyrola minor - Wintergreen, Pyrola rotundifolia - Round-Leaved Wintergreen
Three varieties are native to my region: Pyrola americana (Rounded Shinleaf), Pyrola elliptica (Elliptic Shinleaf, Waxflower Shinleaf) and Pyrola rotundifolia (Round-Leaved Wintergreen).
Dioscorides wrote of Pyrola as Limonium :
Limonium has ten or more leaves similar to beet yet thinner and smaller, and a thin upright stalk equal (as it were) to the lily, full of red seed, astringent to the taste. An acetabulum [vinegar cruet] of the seed (pounded into small pieces and taken in a drink with wine) is able to help dysentery and abdominal cavities, and stop women's excessive bloody menstrual discharges. It grows in fields. It is also called neuroides, potamogeton, lonchitis, or rapronium; the Mysians call it mendruta, the Syrians, meuda, also, lycosemphyllon, helleborosemata, or scyllion; the Magi call it cor lupi, the Romans, veratrum nigrum, some, tintinabulum terrae, the Gauls, iumbarum, and the Dacians,dacina.
Mrs. Grieve tells us:
Description---Low herbs, with a slender shortly creeping stock; orbicular or ovate, nearly radical leaves; and white or greenish, drooping flowers, either solitary or several in a short raceme, on leaflets, erect peduncles. Sepals five, small. Petals five, distinct or slightly joined at the base, forming at first a spreading corolla, which persists round the young capsule, assuming a globular shape. Stamens ten. Capsule five-celled, opening by slits in the middle of the cells.
Pyrola uniflora (one-flowered Wintergreen), found in woods, in Northern and Arctic Europe, Asia and America, and along the high mountain ranges of Central Europe. In pine woods from Perth and Aberdeen northwards. Flowers in the summer.
P. media (Intermediate Wintergreen), not found in England south of Warwick and Worcester, whence it extends to Shetland; it also is found in the north and west of Ireland.
P. minor (Common Wintergreen). In woods and moist shady places in Europe, Northern Asia and the extreme north of America, becoming a mountain plant in Southern Europe and the Caucasus. Frequent in Scotland, northern England, more local in southern England. Rare in Ireland. Flowers in the summer.
P. secunda. Very local in Britain, found in Monmouthshire and from Yorkshire northward to Ross-shire. It is very rare in the northeast of Ireland only. Flowers in the summer.
LARGE WINTERGREEN
Botanical: Pyrola rotundifolia
Synonym---Round-leaved Wintergreen.
Description---A larger plant than Pyrola minor, with larger and whiter flowers and the petals more spreading, but chiefly distinguished from it by the long, protruding, much-curved style, usually at least twice as long as the capsule with a much smaller stigma, with short erect lobes.
Medicinal Action and Uses---Astringent, diuretic, tonic, antispasmodic. The decoction much used in skin diseases and to eradicate a scropulous condition from the system. The decoction also valuable as a gargle and wash for ophthalmic eyes.
Used internally for epilepsy and other nervous affections.
Dose of decoction, 1 fluid ounce three times daily. Solid extract, 2 to 4 grains. The Germans use this plant in their wound drinks and in many ointments and plasters. A decoction of the leaves with the addition of a little cinnamon and red wine cures bloody stools, ulcers of the bladder and restrains the menses.
Salmon says:
'The liquid juice. It consolidates green wounds, uniting their lips speedily together; and taken inwardly 2 or 3 spoonfuls at a time in wine and water, it stops inward fluxes of the blood and cures inward wounds. It stops the overflowing of the Terms in women, cures spitting and vomiting of Blood, the Hepatick Flux, Bloody Flux and all other Fluxes of the Bowels. It is said to cure ulcers and wounds in the Reins and Bladder, Womb and other secret parts, as also ulcers and Fistulas in any other part of the Body, being inwardly taken and outwardly applied. The decoction in wine and water . . . has all the former virtues, but not altogether so powerful and may be given morning and night from 3 ounces to 6, sweetened with syrup of the juice of the same.... The Balsam or Ointment is made with Hog's Lard, or with oil olive, Bees Wax and a little Turpentine . . . heals cankers of the mouth and gums.'
An Irish Herbal states:
The leaves are useful in healing internal and external wounds and ulcers. They stop hemorrhages, like the passing of blood in the urine and excessive menstrual flow.
Brother Aloysius wrote:
The infusion is used for all kinds of bleeding, and both internal and external wounds, chronic catarrh and diarrhea… For a hard, blocked spleen, apply the leaves after boiling them in vinegar. For earaches and running ears, boil the leaves in olive oil and put 5 drops in the ears. For gravel and dropsy, take 3 teaspoons of powdered berries in wine. To strengthen the brain and cleanse the head, wintergreen sap should be sniffed up the nose.
Towards an American Materia Medica tells us:
Of the Pyrola umbellata I have made no mention in the first part of this work. It is a very common North American plant, and is sometimes called Ground-Holly, but is much better known (at least in New-Jersey and in Pennsylvania) by the name of Pippsissiwa, which is
one of its Indian appellations. In the sexual system of Linnaeus, it belongs to the same class and order (Decandria monogynia) as the Uva Ursi. It also belongs to the same natural assemblage of plants as the last mentioned vegetable: viz. the order Bicorncs of Linnaeus, and the order Erica of Mr. de Jussieu. The two plants are, unquestionably, nearly allied to each other in respect to their botanical affinity, as well as in their medical properties.
The Pyrola is considerably astringent, and the quantity of astringency appears to be nearly the same in the leaves and in the stems. Hitherto, it has not greatly excited the attention of physicians. But I think it is worthy of their notice. A respectable physician, in East Jersey, informed me, that he had employed this plant, with manifest advantage, in the same cases in which Uva Ursi has been found so useful. This looks very probable : for it would seem, from many facts, that the lithontriptic powers of the Uva Ursi are, in no small degree, owing to the astringent quality of this plant and, perhaps, upon the whole (as an eminent practitioner has observed), we shall find it no better than other vegetable astringents; some of which have long been used by the country people, in gravelly complaints, and with very great advantage: though hitherto unnoticed by the regular practitioners!
The Pyrola, as I am informed by my pupil Dr. John S. Mitchell, has been used, with good effect, in some cases of intermittents. In one case, its diuretic opera- tion was evident. " The urine discharged was almost black. It appeared as if a few drops of a solution of the sulphat of iron had been put into an astringent infusion. This was a solitary occurrence, and one which I am unable to explain.
For more ample information concerning this vegetable, I beg leave to refer the reader to Dr. Mitchell's Inaugural Essay on the Arbutus Uva Ursi, and the Pyrola, umbellata and maculata of Linnaeus.
I cannot forbear mentioning in this place (at the risk, perhaps, of exposing myself to the ridicule of the mere theorist), that the nuclei, or kernels, of the common American Hazlenut (Coryfus Americana) have been found very useful in affording relief to several persons labouring under nephritic, and perhaps calculous affections. I mention this fact on the respectable authority of my friend, Dr. Frederick Kuhn, of Lancaster, in Pennsylvania. Do these kernels act solely by virtue of their astringent quality?
King’s American Dispensatory states:
This plant is common in damp and shady woods throughout various parts of the United States, bearing numerous white flowers in June and July. The whole plant is used, and imparts its medicinal properties to water. P. elliptica, Nuttall; P. secunda, Linné; and P. chlorantha, Swartz, possess like properties. Mr. E. N. Smith (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1881, p. 549) found the leaves of P. elliptica, P. chlorantha, and P. rotundifolia var. asarifolia, Michaux, to contain arbutin, ericolin, urson, tannic, gallic, and malic acids, gum, sugar, albumen, little volatile oil, and some coloring matter.
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.—Round-leaved pyrola is tonic, astringent, diuretic, and antispasmodic. Used in decoction, both internally and externally, in various cutaneous eruptions, likewise in a carcinomatous or scrofulous taint of the system, and in leucorrhoea, and some uterine diseases. As a local application, it will be found of service in sore throat, and ulcerations of the mouth, indolent ulcers, ophthalmia, etc., and forms an excellent soothing poultice for boils, carbuncles, and all painful tumors or swellings. The decoction, taken internally, is valuable in many urinary affections, relieving irritation, and is reputed very useful in gravel, hematuria, and ulceration of the bladder, and in some nervous diseases. The decoction and extract have been used with success in convulsions, and once formed a large portion of a popular nostrum for epilepsy. Dose of the decoction, 1 or 2 fluid ounces, 3 or 4 times a day; of the extract, from 2 to 5 grains. A strong tincture of the fresh plant (℥viii to alcohol, 76 per cent, Oj) may be given in doses of from 1 to 30 drops.
Specific Indications and Uses.—To relieve irritation of the urinary tract.
Botany in A Day tells us:
Pyrola contains tannic acid and simple phenol glycosides, especially useful as a diuretic for the kidneys and urinary tract infection and helpful for sore throats. Externally, the plant is used to stop bleeding and to heal bruises and insect bits. Its antispasmodic properties make the plant useful for nervous disorders such as epilepsy. The chewed roots were used as throat lozenges.
Plants for A Future states:
Medicinal use of Waxflower Shinleaf: The leaves have analgesic properties and were used as a poultice on bruised shins and other sores and wounds. A tea made from the whole plant was used to treat epileptic fits in babies. A decoction of the whole plant has been used as eye drops to treat sore eyes, sties and inflamed eyelids. A tea made from the leaves was used as a gargle for sore throats and cankers in the mouth. A tea made from the roots is tonic.
Medicinal use of Round-Leaved Wintergreen: The leaves are antirheumatic, antiseptic, antispasmodic, astringent, cardiotonic, contraceptive, diuretic, poultice, sedative and tonic. A decoction is used in the treatment of skin diseases, as a gargle and a wash for the eyes. It is used internally in the treatment of epilepsy and other nervous afflictions. The leaves are harvested in mid to late summer and can be used fresh or dried. The plant contains arbutin, a proven diuretic and antibacterial agent that is used as a urinary antiseptic, this hydrolyzes in the body into the toxic hydroquinone.
Peterson Field Guides Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants tells us:
Shinleaf: American Indians used tea of the whole plant to treat epileptic seizures in babies; leaf tea was gargled for sore throats, canker sores; leaf poulticed for tumors, sores and cuts. Root tea a tonic
Round-Leaved Pyrola: Formerly used by physicians as an astringent for skin eruptions, sore throat or mouth; diuretic for urinary infections, antispasmodic for epilepsy, nervous disorders; leaves poulticed on boils, carbuncles, swelling, painful tumors. Bruised plant used as styptic. Contains arbutin, a proven diuretic and antibacterial agent that breaks down into toxic hydroquinone when metabolized.
This article is an excerpt from
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The information on this site is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease or condition. Nothing on this site has been evaluated or approved by the FDA. I am not a doctor. The US government does not recognize the practice of herbal medicine and their is no governing body regulating herbalists. Therefore, I'm just a guy who studies herbs. I am not offering any advice. I won't even claim that anything I write is accurate or true! I can tell you what herbs have "traditionally been used for." I can tell you my own experience and if I believe an herb helped me. I cannot, nor would I tell you to do the same. If you use any herb I, or anyone else, mentions you are treating yourself. You take full responsibility for your health. Humans are individuals and no two are identical. What works for me may not work for you. You may have an allergy, sensitivity or underlying condition that no one else shares and you don't even know about. Be careful with your health. By continuing to read my blog you agree to be responsible for yourself, do your own research, make your own choices and not to blame me for anything, ever.
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